


wake up call

by a_dot_burr_ell



Series: Collection: Lawstein One Shots [3]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, prompt from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:20:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5129066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dot_burr_ell/pseuds/a_dot_burr_ell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla is reading to Danny and says the one thing she's been holding back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt "Person A is reading to Person B and the main character's name is the same as Person B's. Eventually, there comes a line that says "I love you (Person B)" and Person A has to say it."
> 
> Changed the rating for later. This is now more than a one shot. I would say probably about five chapters for this one.

Carmilla paused outside of the door, twisting the paper cup of coffee in her hands nervously. She knew what was waiting for her on the other side of the weighted, wooden paneled, door and she wasn’t eager to confirm her suspicions that nothing had changed from the day before, or the day before that, or the day before that.

Carmilla sighed. There was no reason to continue to standing in the hall and blocking the flow of traffic around her. Taking a steadying breath, she turned the handle and breezed inside.The room was dark but Carmilla knew her way around. She set her coffee on the dresser she knew was besides the door and shrugging off her jacket, laying it on the back of the vinyl chair she knew was directly to her right.

“Morning, Xena.” Carmilla said flippantly, heading to the window across the room and throwing the curtains open. Soft light illuminated the room, a much better option than the harsh LED lights the room supplied. “That’s better.”

Turning around, Carmilla kept her gaze away from the corner of the room but instead took in a vase of flowers that was set on top of the bedside table. Carmilla wandered to the room’s new addition, gently caressing the bud of a beautiful, yellow, daisy. “I guess Laura stopped by after all, huh?”

There was no answer, not that Carmilla had really expected there to be; any hope of a response had been diminishing exponentially after the first three days she’d spent in this room. In all the reading she had done, though, it suggested talking aloud, encouraged it, even; and so despite how depressing the one sided conversation was, Carmilla tried to maintain the same level of sarcasm and apathy that she usually exuded.

Laura and the ginger twins dropped by from time to time to force her to eat because Carmilla was here any spare moment that she wasn’t at work or school. They were the ones that had shooed Carmilla from the room after forty-eight solid hours of sitting, not talking, and refusing food, reminding Carmilla that it wouldn’t help anyone for her to continue sitting around like some kind of depressed vampire. And so she came directly to this room after getting out of class or after finishing her shift at the campus library. She would have slept here if it wasn't for the stupid ‘immediate family only’ rule.

Carmilla didn’t know how long she stood staring at the vase of flowers, but she knew that she couldn’t keep avoiding the bed in the corner of the room and let her eyes flicker towards it.

Danny Lawrence was lying unconscious upon the hospital bed, the adjustable bed positioned so that her tall form was cradled in a slightly seated position with her legs were elevated. There were wires everywhere, hooked up to several noisy machines that monitored everything from brain activity, her heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

Her, normally, vibrant red hair was matted and dull, obscured by heavy bandages that were wrapped around her head and a feeding tube was taped to her her nose, sending her the nutrients that she couldn't manually intake herself. A breathing tube forced Danny's mouth open and tilted her head at an awkward angle, not even allowing Carmilla the illusion that the taller girl was sleeping peacefully, keeping her breathing regularly in her unconscious state. An IV was inserted into the crook of her right arm while the left was covered in plaster all the way up past her elbow. Her right leg was relatively unscathed but her left leg was out from under the blankets, surrounded by some sort of halo and now held together by metal pins.  

The immediate danger, however, had been the head trauma and the resulting swelling in Danny’s brain. It was the cause of her medically induced coma and, despite being weaned off of the drugs several days ago, she had yet to regain consciousness. They had informed Carmilla that this process could take several days, especially considered that Danny was sedated for more than seventy-two hours, but that after a ten days if she hadn’t woken up, then-.

Carmilla felt her throat tighten and tears filled her eyes  at the thought so she grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip to fight off the feeling. The hot liquid scorched her throat, but it did the trick; she was in control of herself again. Carmilla had tried her hardest not to break down in this room and she’d be damned if she let that record break after seven days. She looked around the room for something to focus on. Anything that would keep her mind from dwelling on Danny’s prognosis or the reason for her hospitalization.

There was a book besides the vase of flowers and Carmilla assumed that Laura had left it. Laura had taken the doctor’s suggestions of company seriously, bringing in books and taking turns with Carmilla reading aloud from Danny’s assignments because ‘Maybe something will stick, Carm. And then she won’t be too far behind when she wakes up!’ And so Carmilla had followed along with the atmosphere that her roommate and best friend had set up, speaking to Danny as if she were about to respond, pretending that there wasn’t a chance that all of this could be for nothing, that they Danny they knew would never return to them. It chafed terribly that Carmilla wasn’t able to do more to help other than sit vigil and drink her coffee and keep up the ridiculous saccharine illusion that at any moment Danny would wake up and be just as infuriating, just as lively, just as absolutely incredible as she had been before the accident.

Carmilla forced herself to swallow another pull of her coffee. She had to admit that reading aloud took up more time than reading silently and she had nothing but time today. It was Saturday and there was no reason for her to leave before the hospital mandated curfew. She pulled her chair closer to the bed, and sat with her feet against the baseboard. She grabbed the book from the counter, turning it over in her hands. There was a number on the cover but she barely spared it a second glance as she flipped to the page that was hastily bookmarked.

It seemed to be some type of screenplay, the characters names written in the margins whenever they spoke, their actions depicted in parenthesis and italics. One of the names jumped out at her as ‘Danny’ and Carmilla could feel the edges of her mouth tip upwards. Under normal circumstances, Carmilla would have been amused that one of the character’s names matched Danny’s, resulting in endless mocking and ribbing between the two, but Carmilla had been oddly empty as of late.

She picked a spot at the top of the page and began to read, letting her voice fill the room:

“Roberta: I was savin your eyes. Cause your eyes are very dark and beautiful. And I don’t think I know what to say things about ‘em. Your heart. I can see your heart.

_(She leans forward to kiss Danny, very slowly. As their lips are about to meet, in a panic, Danny slaps her.)_

Danny: No!

Roberta: ( _unshaken_ ) Don’t be scared, baby!

_(This time she succeeds in kissing Danny. First on the lips, then on each of the bruises._ )”

Carmilla pauses, swallowing thickly. She looked over to the bed, her eyes lingering on the side of Danny’s face that wasn’t covered by gauze that was colored with various shades of purple from bruises that were barely yellowing around the edges. She briefly wondered if the sentiment in the book would even mean much to an unconscious body. But either way, there was obviously an argument taking place in the story and despite the cause of the tiff being beyond her, but it was eerily familiar to the argument she and Danny had had before the accident.

They had been seeing each other for several weeks now, mostly meeting for a physical relationship that neither one of them found satisfying enough with anyone else. Despite the years of insults, animosity and sarcasm, neither one of them seemed unable to fight off whatever magnetic pull that seemed determined to see them coming again and again for heated make out sessions, midnight booty calls, and even one disastrous tryst in the library’s rare collection room.

Their relationship was all lust and sarcasm, full of challenges and passion, and Carmilla didn’t allow herself to consider the possibility of more. She had long ago relinquished any delusions that she would be able to achieve anything more, go the distance and become anything close to girlfriend material. She had been happy with her string of one night stands until they’d been too drunk to resist their sexual tension at the Zeta’s First Term party and their status as ‘qusai-friends with benefits’ began.

It had started slowly then, their contact remaining purely sexual and their mutual friends remaining none the wiser of their carnal activities. But after awhile, they found themselves softening to one another. The insults were thrown with less hostility became more humorous. Danny started joining her and Laura in the dorm to watch movies, tv shows or just to read. Carmilla stopped finding herself waking up in anyone’s bed other than Danny’s and Danny stopped mentioning the business major she’d been seeing.

It was two months later that Carmilla found herself out alone with Danny on what was practically a date when Carmilla’s mother had found her. The visit had been horrible, ending with Danny chasing the woman off with a ‘and if you even try and find her again...’ type of threat. Then Danny had taken Carmilla home and stayed with her all night.

And so she had freaked. Carmilla tried to distance herself from the redhead, ignoring her calls and going back out to her usual haunts. Laura had immediately been concerned by her drastic return to form and so then she’d shouted at Laura before storming out and finding the nearest bar. It had been then, with Carmilla’s arm around another girl, that Danny had found her, fists clenched and face red.

They had fought, loudly and in public, not caring that it had scared off Carmilla’s conquest or that the bar patrons were giving them a wide berth. Danny had yelled about Laura calling her crying and about the cold shoulder she was receiving despite thinking that they were headed toward something more. Carmilla had called Danny a wannabe hero and reminded her that she had been very clear up front, that sleeping together had been about sex and nothing else.

_“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Danny had yelled. “Even if it started that way, it’s definitely not that way now! Not after all the time we’ve spent together, not after that night with your mother!”_

_“You’re deluding yourself, red.” She had replied scathingly. “it was nice of you to come to my rescue that one time but we’ve never been anything more than sex. That was the agreement, remember?”_

_“Maybe.” Danny had agreed, looking intensly down at her. “But I love you and I want more.”_

Danny had let her declaration hang in the air and Carmilla had been momentarily too stunned to respond. Her mind began replaying their time together as if trying to figure out where they’d gone wrong. She relived everything from their first  drunken encounter to the tender way Danny had held her as she cried.

She saw the truth in Danny's statement as she looked back at their time with new eyes but instead of feeling any type of relief or pleasure, Carmilla only felt fear. Her instincts told her that, if she accepted Danny's declaration, she could open herself up, try to reciprocate Danny's feelings and would eventually fuck it up, hurting them both. Her one option then, was to reject Danny now, give the redhead a chance to realize that she never really loved Carmilla anyways, and move on. It was the option that would cost the two of them the least amount of pain.

And so Carmilla had squared her shoulders and told Danny that there was no way that she'd ever feel the same. She'd watched as the fire faded from Danny's eyes and was replaced with hurt and she'd stayed quiet as Danny walked out of the bar and into the rain.

Carmilla had thought that would be the end of it. That she and Danny would fade out of each other's lives completely or else resume their relationship as enemies. So she had proceeded to drown her feelings in a bottle of vodka and fell into her bed around two a.m. Hoping that the alcohol would erase the memory of that night.

At least, that had been the case until Laura had frantically woken her a couple of hours later after receiving a phone call informing them about Danny's accident. It had then felt like someone had dumped several gallons of freezing water on her, sobering her immediately.  

They had rushed to the hospital and seeing Danny looking broken and so small on that bed had felt like someone driven a knife into Carmilla's stomach. Then the police had informed them about the circumstances of the accident. A drunk driver had tried to pass her on the way home from the bar and had run her off the road.

Carmilla had nearly thrown up. None of this would have happened if Danny wasn't out looking for her.

So here she stayed, guilt ridden and feeling absolutely useless. Blinking back tears, Carmilla realized that she had stopped reading, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to think of anything else. taking a steadying breath, she returned her attention to the book, picking up where she left off.

“Danny: ( _Weakly_ ) No, no. Don’t touch me. It burns.

Roberta: Somebody hurt my baby. Somebody hurt your hands. Somebody hurt your face.”

Carmilla saw what the next words are and her voice stalled. A beat passed and Carmilla glanced at the bed again, voice thick, and continued:

“I love you, Danny. I love you. I know you hurt, baby. I love you.”

Fat tears fell onto the page as Carmilla finished the page, overcome with the truth of those words.

She was in love with Danny.

She was so in love that she felt like was she was lost, floating adrift in a frigid ocean. She wanted Danny back. Wanted the warm smile and hearty laugh, wanted strong arms that made her feel as if no one could hurt her, but most of all Carmilla wanted Danny to wake up so that she could finally admit that Danny had been right all along; that she’d just been letting her fear get in the way.

She closed the book so as not to ruin it and she finally let herself feel all of the emotions she had forced down for so long. She sobbed heavily into her hands, letting her mascara smudge and her nose run. She was in love with Danny Lawrence and she was afraid that she’d never get the chance to tell her. She was crying so hard that she missed the door opening behind her.

“Oh my god, Carm!” Laura’s voice sounded panicked.Laura ran to her side, dropping her bag on the floor and pulling Carmilla into a crushing hug. “Carm, hey! What happened?!”

“She’s. Never. Going. To. Wake. Up!” Carmilla cried in between sobs. Her voice was muffled from talking into Laura’s shoulder so she just continued to cry as she clutched at her best friend.

“Hey, hey...” Laura said soothingly, trying to keep her own voice from breaking. “We can’t think like that. She’ll wake up!”

Laura held her, running a hand over her hair and murmuring the same sentence ‘she’ll wake up’ over and over until Carmilla had cried herself out. Because one way or the other, that was the most either of them could do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after many threats and much cursing, here is a second chapter ;)

"God, Danny!" Carmilla breathed, her eyes squeezed tight. "Please!"  
  
Danny chuckled against her throat but continued trailing her lips up to plant a searing kiss against Carmilla's lips. Carmilla responded eagerly, brushing her tongue against Danny's bottom lip and smirking smugly when Danny opened for her. Danny still tasted like the wine she's had earlier and Carmilla couldn't help moaning slightly at the taste.  
  
Carmilla was currently seated on top of the counter in the kitchen of the Summer Society house. It was winter break and the house was empty except for them. The counter came up to waist level and so, sitting on top, Danny didn't have to bend down too far. There was also the added bonus of being able to wrap her leather clad legs around Danny's waist, pulling her in as close as possible.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, Carmilla broke away, panting heavily. "How about we relocate this to somewhere a bit more comfortable?"  
  
Danny nodded, too out of breathe to respond, moving back in for another kiss. Carmilla expected Danny break away and move back so that she could jump down, but instead Danny simply slip her hands underneath Carmilla and lifted her, carrying her out of the kitchen without breaking the kiss. Carmilla tightened the grip of her legs and lifted her arms to hang onto Danny's neck.  
  
Danny quickly took them both up the stairs to her room, careful not to drop her even when Carmilla had begun to nip at the skin below Danny's jaw. Carmilla heard her close the door behind them with her foot before Danny carefully lowering them to the bed.  
  
Carmilla laid back, her hair splayed out behind her, watching as Danny settled above her. She saw that the taller girl was careful to keep most of her weight off of her left arm and that she kept her weight off of her newly healed leg almost entirely.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Carmilla asked, still out of breath. She reached out and brushed Danny's left arm tenderly. After everything, she was still expecting to see Danny’s arm covered in plaster and blue tape.  
  
"Carm, yes. I'm totally fine. Stop worrying." Danny laughed, only slightly exasperated; they’d had this conversation a lot lately. "The doctor wouldn't have given me the all clear if I wasn't perfectly able to do this." She finished her sentence suggestively and ground her hips into Carmilla's, causing the smaller girl to moan.  
  
"I highly doubt he had any idea this would be your first foray into physical activity." Carmilla said, returning the pressure and grinding up. “I think he suggested something along the lines of a brisk run.”  
  
"I'd say that the two of us together is just as strenuous as any run. Now, enough with the nursing act. It's finally my turn to take care of you." Danny replied, shifting back on her knees and pulling her shirt over her head.  
  
Carmilla took in the sight greedily. The large bruises across Danny's skin had long since faded and, though the muscles of her stomach had were a little less defined than they had been before, her skin still felt like amazing beneath Carmilla's hands. Carmilla let her hands slide up over Danny's stomach, watching as Danny's eyes fluttered closed at the feeling. Carmilla let her hands settle on either side of her waist and pulled down, trying to encourage her to keep up the previous movements.  
  
"Impatient?" Danny asked, opening her eyes and giving Carmilla an amused smirk.  
  
"Maybe it's been awhile, alright?" Carmilla replied, rolling her hips upward to try and get what she wanted another way.  
  
“You're so bad.” Danny shook her head, putting a hand on Carmilla’s hips to keep her still.  
  
“That's what you like about me, remember?” Carmilla replied, smirking up at her.  
  
“Well, are you going to behave or am I going to have to restrain you?” Danny asked, teasingly.  
  
“Is that a warning or an offer?” Carmilla shot back, cocking an eyebrow.  
  
Danny didn't answer, choosing instead to lean down and press their lips together for another searing kiss. Carmilla let her hands roam up Danny’s sides and up to cup the other girl’s breasts and squeeze, unable to keep the smirk from her lips when she felt the redhead shiver at her touch. Not one to be outdone, Danny grabbed the hem of Carmilla’s shirt and pulled, their kiss breaking when Carmilla’s shirt reached her head.  
  
Carmilla shifted up so that Danny could completely remove her shirt, shivering slightly as the cool air hit her skin. She watched as Danny tossed the garment carelessly to the floor, leaned forward and slid her hands against Carmilla’s back, unhooking her bra and throwing it to join her discarded shirt. Danny ducked her head placing hot kisses down Carmilla’s throat, making her way to Carmilla’s bare chest. Carmilla brought her hands to Danny’s head, gently urging the girl further down, but Danny stayed put.

“Don't make me start over.” Danny mumbled against her skin, making Carmilla groan.

The red head moved at an infuriatingly slow pace, moving her hands underneath Carmilla’s body and wrapping around the base of her neck while the other hand lowered her body until they were flush against each other. Carmilla groaned again, getting impatient, about to snap that if Danny didn't make a move soon-.

Carmilla gasped as she felt Danny’s lips close around her nipple. Danny hummed appreciatively, using her teeth to lightly bite down. Danny’s hand came up to cover Carmilla’s other breast, rolling and pulling at her nipple with her fingers and effectively driving Carmilla crazy.

Cold air hit Carmilla’s skin as Danny switched her attention to her other nipple, but instead of Danny’s hand replacing her mouth, Carmilla felt Danny’s fingers at the button of her jeans.

Her hips bucked upwards involuntary, especially when feeling Danny’s long fingers dip beneath the waistband of her thong. Carmilla knew that her underwear was probably soaked through from just the small amount of stimulation they’d done so far, an embarrassment that she hadn't experienced since high school, but she couldn't find it in her to care. Being with Danny had never just been sex, she knew that now, but she had to admit it had been a long time.

Danny’s fingers were cool against Carmilla’s overheated skin and she couldn't repress a shudder as she felt Danny’s hand come in contact with her damp curls. One finger entered her and Carmilla moaned loudly, completely ready to let herself go. She felt a second finger enter her and then Danny’s fingers started moving, working Carmilla into a frenzy.

"Is that your alarm?" Danny asked, looking up from her spot at Carmilla’s breast and her fingers slowing.

"What?" Carmilla asked, barely able to think around what Danny had been doing.  
  
"An alarm. Can't you hear it?" She asked, concerned now.  
  
"I had one too many things on my mind to focus on some car alarm, red." Carmilla huffed, sitting up on her elbows. "Now, are we going to focus back to the task at hand or are we going to-."  
  
Carmilla broke off because now she could hear it. There was a high-pitched alarm going off but as she continued to focus on it, the alarm got louder; like someone turning up the volume on a radio. Now it sounded like the alarm was going off next to her head.  
  
"What the creeping hell?" Carmilla muttered, moving to sit up and-.  
  
WHAM  
  
Carmilla woke violently when her legs slipped from Danny's hospital bed to the floor. It took her a moment to shake off the last bits of sleep and fully absorb what was going on around her; but when she did, Carmilla realized that it was utter chaos.  
  
She realized that her legs hadn't actually slid off the bed; Danny was actually flailing her unbroken leg until Carmilla's had been pushed to the floor. The alarm that had been going off in her dream was actually an annoyingly shrill alarm beeping from what Carmilla recognized to be Danny's ventilator.  
  
Carmilla's heart began beating quickly when she realized this meant Danny was moving! Actually moving on her own! Except that one glance at Danny's face made it feel like Carmilla's heart had actually fallen into her stomach.  
  
Instead of seeing Danny's sharp, blue, eyes looking around the room in tired confusion like she'd expected, Danny's eyes were closed tight in what looked like intense pain. She was sweating profusely, choking on the tube in her throat, her head turning back and forth in an attempt to dislodge it. Her unbroken hand rose a few inches off of the sheets before feebly falling back to the bed and Carmilla saw her clench the sheets between her fingers. Her right leg was still flailing, kicking anything within reach, and Carmilla could see the halo around her left leg moving, the sound of metal shifting reaching her ears.  
  
Carmilla was panicking. She had no idea what to do. In six days of waiting for Danny to wake up, not once had the doctors or nurses mentioned what to do if she started choking.  
  
She jumped up from her chair, closing the distance between them in one stride. She hesitated by the bed, unsure if she should touch the other girl. Carmilla wasn't sure how long Danny had been struggling and she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Lightly, she reached out to touch Danny's undamaged shoulder and began speaking.  
  
"Danny! Hey! Hey! Open your eyes!" Carmilla said, talking above the loud beeping.  
  
Danny's eyes flew open, wildly darting in every direction before landing on Carmilla. Carmilla stared back, momentarily relieved to be seeing Danny awake and responsive before she had closed her eyes in pain again, and the spell was broken. That was when Carmilla saw it, tucked next to the rail.  
  
The nurse call button.  
  
Practically diving across the bed, Carmilla grabbed the button. "I got it! Hold on! Help will be here soon!" She told Danny, pressing the button over and over again.  
  
Carmilla held her breath, waiting. It felt like an eternity, but eventually the door opened and a harassed looking nurse came bustling into the room. She took one look at Carmilla, still pressing the call button, to the monitors around the room that were screaming their shrill alarms, and, finally, to Danny struggling on the bed.  
  
“Well, it's about damn time!” Carmilla shouted angrily, her panic making her lash out. “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get a damn doctor?!”  
  
The nurse gave Carmilla a reproachful look but she didn't answer, turning on her heel and running out of the room. Carmilla counted three very long seconds before the nurse was back, a balding doctor in tow and a couple of burly orderlies with them. Carmilla released the breath she was holding now that she felt there was adequate help in the room. They’d figure out what went wrong, they had to.  
  
“Miss Lawrence, we need you to stop struggling!” The Doctor spoke loud enough to be heard over the machines as he rushed to the side of the bed. “You are in the hospital. I'm Dr. Adams and I'm going to need for you to calm down.”  
  
“She’s not calming down.” The nurse told the doctor, rushing to the monitors.  
  
“And she’s displaced the pins in her leg.” The doctor added, turning to the orderlies. “You two! Stabilize her so she doesn’t do any more damage. Nurse, clear the room and then get me two of lorazepam. ”  
  
The nurse grabbed Carmilla by the arm, intending to pull her back, but Carmilla shrugged her off. “Like hell am I going anywhere!” She cursed.  
  
“I’m not doing this.” The nurse shot back, staring down her nose at Carmilla. “You can either leave the room with me or I can have one of the boys escort you out instead of helping your friend. The choice is yours.”  
  
Carmilla deliberated for a moment, before turning on her heel and dashing out of the room, feeling nothing but loathing for the woman following her out. She didn’t head far, stopping just outside the hospital room and refusing to move. The nurse didn’t bother with her, brushing past Carmilla and headed for the nurses station. Before long, the nurse had returned back with a syringe and disappeared behind the door, leaving Carmilla to pace in the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So obviously, this isnt the end. I had to split this chapter because it was just dragging on for me. Look back for more soon.


	3. Chapter 3

With nothing to do, Carmilla pulls out her phone and punches in Laura’s number. She holds it up to her ear and listens to it ring and ring until she takes a glance at a clock hanging above the nurse’s station. It was three p.m.,Laura was in the middle of her shift at work. Not bothering to leave a message, Carmilla shot her a text message updating her on the situation and urging Laura to call as soon as possible. She briefly considered putting in a call to Lafontaine or Perry but immediately dismissed the thought; they'd start fussing over her when what she really needed was answers.

What was happening inside that room right now? Was Danny alright?  Was she struggling to breathe, in pain? Carmilla couldn't help but feel like she could have done something if she hadn't been asleep. Would she have been able to see Danny awaken as she’d pictured, bleary eyed but calm? Could she have explained the situation and kept her from any unnecessary panicking?

And then there was the dream itself. It had been happening more and more frequently. She dreamt that Danny was out of this place, whole again, and they were happy. Even happier than they had been when they'd first started their arrangement. It filled her with a hope that she hadn't felt since she was a child, imagining what their relationship might be like. It also scared her. She was afraid that after everything, she'd screw something up and all of this pain would be for nothing. Of course, it all meant nothing if Danny didn't recover. It caused a lump to form in her throat whenever she thought too long about it.

The door to Danny’s room swung open suddenly, jarring Carmilla from her thoughts. She jerked away from her spot against the wall, startled by the sudden movement. The orderlies were wheeling Danny out of the room and Carmilla’s breath hitched.  
  
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” She demanded as the doctor came out of the room. She wasn’t looking at him, too focused on the bed that was retreating down the hallway.  
  
The doctor sighed. “We need to take Miss Lawrence to surgery to assess how much damage she did to her leg.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket and dabbed at his forehead.  
  
“How long is that going to take?” Carmilla pressed, feeling her chest tighten. She remembered how much of a wreck she’d been during Danny’s first round of surgeries.   
  
“It shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.” He assured her. “When we’re done, I’ll decide the best course of action from there.”  
  
“And she’ll be…” Carmilla started, hating how much her voice was shaking. “She’ll be awake and everything?”  
  
The doctor looked uncomfortable. “We’ll do a full neurological work up after she wakes up in recovery.”  
  
Carmilla swallowed heavily. So there was still no guarantee. She nodded to let the doctor know that she understood what he was saying and listened as he gave her directions to the surgical waiting room. She wouldn’t be allowed back in the patient room until they brought Danny back from recovery. Another nurse packed up the various items that she’d left in the room and placed them in a clear bag with the hospital’s logo on the front and handed it to Carmilla. She took it wordlessly, it was heavy, and let it bang against her thigh as she headed to the waiting area.

The hallways were clearly marked with large font and arrows that pointed people to the waiting area, but despite this, Carmilla could still hear the random wanderer asking a passing nurse for directions. She pushed through a pair of double doors that promised a waiting room and found herself surrounded by chairs that were in desperate need of being reupholstered, the vinyl split on every seat. It was darker than the rest of the hospital, she could see a burnt out bulb in two corners of the room, and there were already several people spread out in various seats.

Carmilla found the least offensive smelling chair and sat down, situating her bag on the seat beside her. There was a small coffee table in front of her and it was at the perfect height to be her new foot rest so she started pulling it towards her. The table creaked as she moved it causing an elderly woman in the corner to look disdainfully at her. Sneering menacingly at the woman, she made a show of obnoxiously putting her boots on the table. The woman huffed indignantly, returning her attention to the tv in the opposite corner of the room.

Carmilla smirked. Angering the older generation had always been a sure fire way for her to cheer up. The feeling faded as quickly as it came, however, and was replaced with a fresh wave of anxiety about the current situation. Carmilla felt as trapped and as useless as she had in Danny’s private hospital room. More waiting, more silence, and nothing to do but wish for a time when they could be out of this place and together.

Carmilla scowled deeply. There was no reason to allow her mind to run away with her again. She quickly drafted a group text updating Laura and the ginger twins about what had happened then shoved her phone back in her pocket without waiting for a response. In times like this there was nothing better to distract her than a book so she rummaged through her bag and pulled out one of the few books she kept with her. It was well worn, one of her favorites, and she often found herself getting lost in its pages. She flipped to her most recent bookmark, scanning the page for the last place she’d left off and began to read silently.

“When I was first imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man. For example, I would suddenly have the urge to be on a beach and to walk down to the water. As I imagined the sound of the first waves under my feet, my body entering the water and the sense of relief it would give me, all of a sudden I would feel how closed in I was by the walls of my cell. But that only lasted a few months.

Afterwards my only thoughts were those of a prisoner.”

Carmilla closed the book in annoyance. Maybe The Stranger was not the best book to be reading while she was feeling like a prisoner herself. She shoved the book back in her bag and instead pulled out a pair of headphones. If she couldn't get lost in a book then she’d try an escape through music.

She angrily pulled her phone from her pocket and shoved the end of the cord into the headphone jack. She unlocked the screen and navigated to the music app, trying not to feel too disappointed that there was no new messages from Laura, and started her favorite playlist. Heavy guitar riffs filled her ears and she sighed. Now, there was nothing to do but wait.

She kept a close watch on the door, tensing every time someone entered the room and deflating every time she realized the newest addition wasn't for her. When she was just about ready to jump out of her seat and slap the clipboard out of the hands of the next apathetic nurse that walked through that door, she tried to find something else to occupy her time. She figured people watching couldn’t hurt, these people were probably experiencing something akin to her own anxiety.

Around the one hour mark, a woman with three small children entered and took up several seats, the mother doling out food from a greasy paper bag before sitting heavily in a chair. The aggravating old woman from earlier shot the family a dirty look when the youngest child, a little girl no more than two, started crying for her father. The mother noticed the old woman’s stare and hastily tried to quiet the girl with soothing tones and reassurances. It wasn’t good enough for the older woman who simply rolled her eyes and tsked so Carmilla made it a point to stare daggers at the woman until the old bag got the hint and turned her attention back to the television in embarrassment.

A half hour later, the old woman left when a doctor had come to tell her that her husband had pulled through. She had shouted jubilantly and made a show of hugging the doctor while everyone else looked on, forlorn. It set Carmilla’s teeth on edge.

The evil old bat got a happy ending; was it too much to much get one for herself? She continued to focus on the small family, watching the children move from their food to small handheld video game systems. The youngest girl was now finding comfort in the arms of her mother, and Carmilla was so engrossed in watching the mother tenderly stroking the young girl's hair that she almost missed the scrub nurse who had just entered the room.

“I'm looking for the family of Danielle Lawrence?” The nurse asked, not bothering to glance up from her clipboard.

Carmilla ripped the headphones out of her ears and jumped up from her chair. “Here!”

This was a different nurse than had been stationed on the previous floor so, when Carmilla had answered, the nurse eyed her critically, taking in her ripped jeans, band tee and boots. “Uh, Miss Lawrence is out of surgery and I can take you back to the ICU.”

“Great.” Carmilla mumbled, dashing back to grab her bags.

The nurse turned wordlessly and led the way out of the waiting room, obviously expecting her to follow. Carmilla rolled her eyes and swung her bag over her shoulder. She briefly wondered if anybody in this damn place had taken any sensitivity training as she felt into step behind the woman. They traveled quickly through the halls and Carmilla felt her heartbeat quicken with every step.  
  
“So, did everything go…alright?” Carmilla asked, her mind buzzing with questions about Danny’s condition.  
  
“The doctor will be by to brief you about Miss Lawrence’s condition shortly.” The nurse replied, gesturing to a door on their left. “You can go in, if you’d like.”  
  
Carmilla held her breath and entered the room, silently praying that there would be good news for her on the other side of that door. The first thing she noticed was a lack of crowding in the room. She knew that they’d put Danny into a different room then they’d previously been in but the old room had felt crowded with the horde of machines she’d been hooked up to. Now there were only two machines in the room, a marked improvement. Carmilla let her eyes examine Danny and her breath caught in her chest.  
  
Danny looked infinitely better. Gone was the cumbersome ventilation tube, instead, Danny was breathing on her own; Carmilla could see the natural rise and fall of her chest. The feeding tube was replaced with the less invasive nasal cannula, a clear tube that was giving her extra oxygen. Someone had changed the dressing around her head, replacing the old, bloody, ones with fresh white gauze. The metal halo was still situated to her left leg but it didn't look any worse for the wear.

Carmilla breathed a sigh of relief and closed the distance between them. She brought a hand up to grasp Danny’s free hand, gently rubbing her thumb across the other girl’s palm. It was dark in the room, all the lights off, but Carmilla could still see the bruises on the redhead’s face were yellowed and fading. In another week or so, even the worst of Danny’s bruising would be gone. Carmilla heard the door open behind her and she automatically tensed.  
  
“Ah! There you are.” The doctor said, talking quietly as he entered the room. He walked around to the other side of Danny’s bed and offered her a kind smile. “I never did catch your name.”  
  
“Carmilla Karnstein.” She answered quietly, swallowing nervously. “How did-. How did it go?”  
  
“It went very well.” He said softly, flipping through the binder he’d been carrying at his side. “We readjusted the external fixation device, uh, the halo, and, as far as we’re able to tell, there hasn't been any additional damage. She’s still have to have it attached for another four weeks before we can remove it and fit her with a regular cast so she’ll still be with us for a while.”

“Four weeks?” Carmilla choked out, making sure she heard him right.

“I know it sounds like a lot. But we really need to make sure it heals properly.” He explained, nodding.  “On the bright side, her neurological exam went as expected. We’ll have to get follow up CT scans to be sure, but it looks like she’ll make a full recovery.”

“So she woke up?” Carmilla asked, trying not to get too excited. “She knew her name and the date and who was in office?”

He nodded. “She was a little behind on the date considering how long she’s been unconscious, but yes.”

Carmilla felt a genuine smile pull at her lips for the first time in a couple of weeks. Danny was going to be fine. It would be a slow and painful recovery, but she would eventually be back to being the strong and reliable force Carmilla had come to know her as. It was everything she’d been waiting to hear for thirteen days.  
  
The doctor continued talking but it wasn’t anything pertinent. He filled her in on what to expect when Danny woke up, where to get water, where the nurse’s call button was and how to work the tv. She thanked him for everything and he gave her another smile before leaving the room. She found herself thinking charitably that there may have been one decent human being in this dump after all.  
  
She was making herself comfortable when the sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention.Carmilla’s head whipped around so fast that she got a painful kink in her neck, causing her to hiss in pain. She stood, using one hand to massage her neck, and made her way to the side of the hospital bed, nearly tripping over her own boots. She righted herself quickly, cursing herself silently for being such a mess.

Danny was blinking up at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused as she glanced around the dark room. Carmilla’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, weighing her down as she tried to cross the room. She knew when Danny spotted her because the other girl’s face shifted to an expression of confusion as she approached. Carmilla tried to put some kind of reassuring expression on her face but the most she was able to manage was a half-hearted smirk.  
  
“You with us, Lawrence?” Carmilla quipped softly, stepping up to the side of the bed. She was afraid any sudden movements or loud sounds would dispel the scene and reveal that she was dreaming again.  
  
“Car-?” Danny croaked, cutting off with a painful sounding cough.  
  
“Uh, hold on.” Carmilla said, going to where the doctor had pointed out a small pitcher of water and pouring a cup. She added a straw as she approached the bed again, holding the cup up to Danny’s mouth. “Here.”  
  
Danny lifted her head minutely to reach the straw, sipping slowly at the water. She winced every so often, probably from the cool liquid hitting her after days of having a tube shoved down her throat. Danny looked tired despite being asleep for almost two weeks; Carmilla supposed that was to be expected. Her eyes had dark circles around them and her lips looked dry and chapped. Eventually, she let go of the straw and she rested her head back on the pillows, looking exhausted after that small feat.  
  
Carmilla made a mental note to pick up some chapstick from the hospital gift shop as she put the cup of water on the tray at the foot of Danny’s bed. The room was quiet except from the occasion low beeping of the machine monitoring Danny’s heart rate but, unlike the silence that Carmilla was used to, the quiet now seemed awkward. She supposed that it was because they hadn’t spoken since that ill-fated night at the bar when her guard had been up and she’d spurned Danny’s confession. Carmilla felt her chest tighten at the memory.  
  
“What are-?” Danny broke off with another cough.  
  
Carmilla quickly picked up the cup of water, holding it up for her to take another drink but Danny surprised her by raising a shaky hand and grabbing the cup from Carmilla’s grip. She released it carefully, watching as Danny lowered the cup to her side before continuing. “What are you doing here?”

  
“Just trying to keep you hydrated.” Carmilla said casually, a small smile pulling at her lips. Danny’s voice was hoarse but it was a relief to hear, breaking the silence and really convincing Carmilla that she wasn’t dreaming this. 

“No. I mean what are you doing here?” Danny said, the emphasis on the word ‘you’ making it clear to Carmilla that Danny wasn’t happy to see her.

“Danny, I-.” Carmilla started to speak but Danny cut her off.

“Because you made it clear in the bar that you and I were through.” Danny added, her voice low. She stared at Carmilla with a look of exaggerated thoughtfulness. “What was it you called me? Oh yeah, ‘delusional’. You said I was delusional for thinking we were anything more than a good fuck. Or do you not remember?”

Carmilla gaped at the venom in Danny’s voice. It wasn’t that Danny was wrong or that she didn’t remember that night, in fact, she would probably never forget it. “I remember.”

Danny cleared her throat before continuing. “Then I don't see how there’s anything more to say.”

“There’s plenty to say!” Carmilla exclaimed, trying to get a hold of herself. This was not the time to let her temper ruin things. “What you said that night… I was scared and that might make me pathetic or whatever, but I've had time to process-!”

Danny cut her off. “Look, the way I see it is that if I hadn’t been in that accident, you wouldn’t have had this…” She paused searching for the word. “Revelation! So, thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need you hanging around thinking that you love me until this pity, or guilt, or whatever the hell it is, wears off and you realize that you want to cut and run like you always do!”  
  
“That's not what this is!” Carmilla shouted, her hands clenching by her sides.

The door behind them opened and the nurse rushed in. “What is going on in here!?”

They stared at one another in silence, ignoring the nurse. Danny stared back at her with a look of disdain. More than anything, she looked done. Carmilla could feel her blood rushing on her ears, feel her heart pumping in her ears.

“I’m tired, Carmilla.” Danny said, her eyes flicking briefly to the nurse. “Leave.”

Carmilla stood rooted to the floor, looking doggedly over at Danny after the dismissal. Not wanting to meet her gaze, Danny turned her face away, deliberately not making eye contact.

“You heard her. Go!” The nurse tugged at her. “Don't make me get security!”

“Fine.” Carmilla ground out, grabbing her bags and heading for the door. She obviously wasn't going to make any progress now.

Carmilla had planned to let the door slam behind her but the damn track the hospital doors were on prevented it from doing anything more than closing with a lame ‘thunk’. She tore down the hallway, not bothering to apologize when she bumped into people.

She made it to the hospital doors and stopped, the cold November air cooling her temper. Danny had always been able to bring strong reactions out of her, reactions that Carmilla had thought she’d mastered long ago, but there was still no way she was going to leave this building and leave Danny alone.

Carmilla pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, quickly unlocking the screen and dialing Laura. It was late enough now that she was confident Laura would answer and luck was with her when the phone rang and it picked up after the second ring.

“Laura?” Carmilla spoke first, her voice sounding off, even to her own ears.

“Hello? Carm?” Laura asked, her voice high with anxiety.

Carmilla took a steadying breath. “How soon can you get here?”

**Author's Note:**

> So the book referenced was "13 by Shanley: Thirteen Plays" by John Patrick Shanley. It's slightly paraphrased to weed out some of the pronouns. 
> 
> I literally just searched google books for the phrase "I love you, Danny" and choose from what popped up. I have no idea what the story is about or anything else just that the paragraph for what I needed for this story. I don't own 13 by Shanley: Thirteen Plays or Carmilla or even the prompt which was originally posted by otpprompts on tumblr and then the idea was changed into this soul crushing piece after reading sharonbelle's tags on the post. You can thank Ally for this.


End file.
